Access-A-Bus

Accessible Transportation Advisory Committee

Minutes from June - August 2006

June 28th, 2006

This meeting was held at Metro Transit and was called to order by the Chairperson Gary Russell.

The new committee members were introduced and Paul McDaniel, the new General Manager of Metro Transit was introduced. He gave the committee a brief welcome and then proceeded to take them on a tour of the facilities.

The minutes of the April 26th meeting were approved as read.

The order of business and additions were approved.

1. Marcia Guy was elected as Secretary
2. Peggy Brown and Cathy Cranidge were nominated as Member at Large and Cathy Cranidge was elected for member at large for a six month term
3. The appointment of committee members then took place as follows:

No Show/Late Cancellation Committee - Bill Moffat, Gwen Maclachlan, Todd Hacquoil, Catherine Macintosh, Murray Holman and Gary Russell.

Low Floor Bus Committee - Todd Hacquoil, Gwen Maclachlan, Cathy Cranidge, Catherine Macintosh & Murray Holman.

Public Relations Committee - Lynn DeMont, Peggy Brown, Peggy Brown, Murray Holman, Catherine Macintosh, Shauna MacEachern & Gary Russell.

4. The Oath of Confidentiality was signed by all. The members of the No Show/Late Cancellation Committee will be required to sign the oath at the next meeting.

5. The topic of one way bookings was discussed. Larry will look into this and notify the committee at the next meeting.

6. The AGM Report has been posted to the HRM Metro Transit Website.

7. Street addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses were confirmed.

8. Meetings will be held on the 4th Wednesday of each month from 2-4 pm at the HRM Finance Depart on the 3rd Floor Duke Street Tower.

9. The Chair confirmed that the HRM website has been up dated till May 2006.

10. June and July and August will be added at the end of August.

11. In the event of any resignations from the committee this year, replacements will be as follows: Fred Bishop User Ed Laverty User and Donald Allen Non User

12. There will be a new AAB Website added to the HRM Metro Transit Website with pertinent information on changes to Access a Bus Procedures. Todd Hacquoil will look after this.

13. Air Conditioning on Buses - Larry advised the committee that this was being looked after. The buses had not been charged with Freon as the HRM Budget had not been approved by council thus the contract could not be tendered.

14. New information will be provided to the new committee members so that they will know what the status of things is.

15. Teamwork Cooperative Annual Report - The report in the transportation section was not accurate regarding Access-A-Bus. Larry will be looking into this and will provide the committee with the information at the next meting.

16. Status of New Operators & Buses - Larry advised that there are 2 new drivers in the process of being hired and that there are 20 new low floor buses being added to the system and some new shifts for Access-A-Bus which will provide a better usage for the buses and less down time.

17. The Budget as of today’s date has not been passed but should be before the weekend.

18. Certificate for Brian Day - Larry advised that this was already being looked after and it was suggested that the ATAC committee send him a card of thanks. Gary R. will look after this.

19. Specialist’’s appointments were discussed and the term specialist will be defined. The need for attendants was also discussed . Larry will look into these items and report back to the committee

20. Denial of Service -Bus operators are not allowed to deny service or complain to passengers about service. They are not authorized to remove anyone from the service. This applies to contracted out services also.

21. A tour of the facilities of Metro Transit was given by Larry.

22. Gary will make the booking for the Christmas Party at the Steak & Stein on Young Street. Date of the booking will be advised at the next meeting.

There were no motions and there was no business arising from the previous minutes.

There was no deferred business

There was no Correspondence in or out.

The presentation of the new Access-A-Bus Video has been deferred until a future meeting.

Reports -

There was no Low Floor Bus Report. Todd will be on vacation for 2 weeks and upon return will be contacting committee members.

It was reported by Gary R. that the No Show/Late Cancellation Committee had received 11 warning letters that were sent out 3 Letters of Suspension and that 3 Letters of Appeal had been received.

The Public Relations Committee was holding meetings and progress was slowly happening, to date letters have been sent out. 500 bottles of water have been promised and one major door prize has been received.

Transit Services Statistical Report –– Will be presented at the next meeting. Reports are presented at every second meeting.

Added items to the agenda were as follows:

23. Specialist’’s Appointments

24. Denial of Service

25. Tour of Metro Transit Facilities

26. Christmas Party

The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 pm

July 26th, 2006

The meeting was called to order by the Chairperson Gary Russell.

Committee members were introduced.

The minutes of the June 29th meeting were approved as circulated.

The Order of Business and additions and deletions was approved.

1. No Show/Late Cancellation Committee Oath of Confidentiality was signed by all present and given to Larry.

2. Terms of Reference Committee. Gary Russell, Lynn DeMont and Todd Hacquoil are working on it.

3. Due to unforeseen circumstances the time of the 25th Anniversary Celebration has been changed to 1 pm to 5 pm.

4. Workshop -Peggy Brown requested a workshop be set up to assist people with the procedures for applications, the User Guide, booking the bus, and appointments, so they will know what is involved after registering. Larry will make arrangements for this at a later date.
There were no Motions of Consideration.

Business arising out of the minutes was as follows:
1. Oath of Confidentiality for the No Show/Late Cancellation Committee was signed.

2. One way bookings were discussed and Larry explained that staff will offer one way bookings and they will make it clearly understood that they will offer you a ride to your destination only. There will be no ride offered to bring you home unless the bus is available.

3. The dates of the next ATAC Meetings are from 2:00 –– 4:00 pm on the 3rd Floor of the HRM Finance Department at the Duke Street Tower on the following dates: August 23rd, September 27th, October 26th and November 22nd.

4. Todd will supply information on the new AAB Website. Todd requested that the Low Floor bus routes be added to the site. If you have any questions or ideas for this site, please forward them to him. Todd also has ideas for the layout of the site.

5. The air conditioning on the buses is working now.

6. Larry is still working on the Teamwork Cooperative Annual Report and will report at the next meeting.

7. Larry is looking into the definitions of a Specialist and what categories are allowed. These appointments will be resolved at the next meeting.

8. The Christmas Party is booked for 36 people at Steak and Stein on Young Street in Halifax for December 6th, 2006 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

9. The Access-A-Bus Visual Presentation is deferred until September.

There was no correspondence in or out.

There were no Committee Reports
The Public Relations Committee held their meeting last week and Lynn reported that they are working on getting the 25th Anniversary organized.
The ATU (Amalgamated Transit Union) has been contacted for possible funding assistance.

All members received the Statistical Report from Larry.
There were no motions or notices of motions.
The meeting was adjourned at 4 pm.
Next meeting August 23rd, 2006.

August 23rd, 2006

The meeting was called to order by the Chairperson Gary Russell at 2 pm.
The minutes of the July 26th meeting were approved as circulated.
The Order of Business and the Approval of Additions and Deletions was approved.

1. Lynn DeMont gave a verbal and written report on the 25th Anniversary Celebrations. 6 Councilors attended. A thank you was given to Councilor Meade and Larry Hilton for attending the Civic Centre for the event. She handed out thank you letters to Committee Members. The anniversary was a success. Approximately 270 attended.

2. Gary Russell gave thanks to Metro Transit and Lynn DeMont for the success of the 25th Anniversary Celebration.

3. The Oath of Confidentiality for Bill Moffat was deferred as he has not signed it yet and was not at the meeting.

4. Larry advised that the Access-A-Bus move to new facilities has been completed and the information has been deferred to the September meeting.

5. Gary Russell advised that the AAB HRM Website had been updated. The June , July and August minutes are ready to be posted.

6. Gary advised that Jim Leadon (ATU) will be invited to committee meetings on a quarterly basis starting with the meeting of September 27, 2006.

7. Todd Hacquoil handed out copies of the AAB Website and a draft proposal for changes and additions he would like to see made. Larry Hilton is looking after this matter.

8. The tour of the new facilities is deferred to the October meeting and will be arranged by Larry.

There were no motions.

Business Arising Out Of The Minutes –– Lynn DeMont reported that Dial would be interested in looking after the Work Shop that Peggy Brown requested at the last meeting.

The Teamwork Cooperative report has been deferred until September. Larry is looking after this.

The criteria for Specialist Bookings have been deferred until the September Meeting. Larry is looking after this.

There was no Deferred Business,
There was no Correspondence In.

The Correspondence Out was as follows.
A get well card to Catherine Macintosh, A thank you letter to the Amalgamated Transit Union and thank you letters from the PR Committee.

Reports ––
The Low Floor Bus Committee - Todd inquired about new service to different routes and Larry advised that Low Floor busses will be added to some routes in the near future.

No Show/Late Cancellation Committee - It was reported by Gary that 2 Letters of Suspension had been sent out, 11 Warning Letters and that there were 3 Appeals pending.

Statistical Report - Deferred until the October Meeting.
There were no motions.

Added Items -There is an issue at Sunrise Manor concerning Bookings and Cancellations. Larry is looking into this matter
The meeting was adjourned at 4 pm.
Next meeting will be September 27th

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